Theatre in Zimbabwe

Theatre
in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere in Africa, has long roots in community
ceremonial dance and praise ceremonies. It is in fact difficult to
distinguish between poetry, dance, music, and theatre in its
traditional mould. Performance was but a portion of these communal
events, participation was as important, and blurred the lines between
performers and audience. Nor did performance take place in a vacuum. It
was given meaning and place by the cyclic changes in the community.

With
independence and its socialist agenda of social transformation and
education, the traditional theatre inspired a modern kind of
performance, where participation was still an essential feature, but in
a setting where the distinction between performer and audience was
beginning to be clear. Zimbabwe became one of the testing fields for an
ambitious community theatre movement, in which a central figure was Ngugi wa Mirii
in exile from Kenya, where together with Ngugi wa Thiong'o he had
worked with the Kamarithu theatre, which was closed down by the Kenyan
government.

The theatre movement has gone a long way since it started, as Praise Zenenga,
who is writing his doctoral thesis at Northwestern University in the
US, tells us. Some of the crucial questions are the dependence on NGO
funding, the participation of the communities, and the issue of
charging for entrance tickets.

The
community theatre movement has given rise to some institutional theatre
companies, which often perform scripted plays. The best known is
Amakhosi from Bulawayo, which under Cont Mhlanga's leadership has been
developed into a vibrant, professional group. In 2002, Amakhosi, who
had produced many plays critical of social and political developments,
accepted an offer to have a weekly show on national TV. Amakhosi
rejected all criticism of this decision by saying that they had always
clamoured for more mass media exposure for good theatre.

Another professional group is Rooftop theatre in Harare, led by Dave Gutsha. Walter Mapurutsa
has been associated with Rooftop, both as actor and director. In 2002
he played a one-man show, called “Rags and Garbage”, where he, as a
homeless town fool, was able to put both ZANU-PF and the MDC to task.
Setting up a mock interview he asked first president what his story
was, and got the answer: Land. And more? More land. Then he turned to
Tsangvirai, and asked the same. Change, was the reply. And more? More
change.

Norman Takawira
(who tragically died in 2003) had a long history of involvement in
theatre, and was a writer of several radio plays. He was one of those
professionals that every arts sector needs, and could confidently say
ìI know how to create jobs, and how to find jobs.